Aussie knighted for London Olympics work

Australian businessman David Higgins - the man credited with building the London Olympic venues on time and on budget - has been knighted.

Higgins oversaw the enormous construction project during his time as chief executive of Britain's Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and left his post in February last year.

During 2011, a host of venues were completed from the velodrome to the main stadium and aquatic centre.

"It's a fantastic honour; I'm very privileged and I was delighted to see other members of the Olympic Delivery Authority receive honours as well," Higgins said at Buckingham Palace after being knighted by Prince Charles on Thursday.

"Everything I did was part of a large team and the most encouraging thing is to see what it does for the communities around the Games. I was really focused on regeneration and restoring communities and returning communities to prosperity."

Higgins was previously chief executive of Lend Lease, the construction firm responsible for the Sydney Olympics, and left the ODA to become the chief executive of Network Rail in Britain.

Pop star Phil Collins was at the palace to support his cartoonist brother as he received an MBE.

Clive Collins, whose humorous drawings have appeared in national newspapers and satirical magazines, received the honour for services to art.

Among others honoured by Prince Charles was solicitor Mark Stephens, who has been involved in the extradition battle of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and was made a CBE.

The media specialist partner with law firm Finers Stephens Innocent is a familiar face on British television as a legal expert.

He said Charles had asked if he was involved in the Leveson Inquiry, which the solicitor is not.

"He asked me about the Leveson Inquiry and I told him I had won 11 phone hacking cases last week. (I've) kept my clients' profiles pretty low, I've felt they've been intruded upon enough," Stephens said.